Craig234

You know what I think the problem is? That we don't have a 'bad guy' to point to for the right-wing system - we ARE the problem. The right can call the left 'socialists' and 'communists' and point at Mao, Stalin, Castro, Pol Pot, the whole Soviet bloc, North Korea, on and on pretending that's what the left supports, and attack it. But the road to plutocracy, the Ayn Rand utopia disaster, has never existed quite as much as it does in the US now, in terms of how the inequality harms the American people so much. We're paving new ground as they keep setting new records on inequality and the wealthy taking over the government for a democracy while still pretending to have democracy. Any other time you see such plutocracy, it's normally under an actual authoritarian regime, not one really claiming to be democratic. And so who can the left point at, what name can they use, for right-wing economics, to attack it? What is the counterpart to the economies named above? They don't really exist, especially in the popular understanding. There is no 'plutocratistein' equivalent of Mao's China. And so the right tries to claim that it's the American system. But it's not. The American system is democracy, not plutocracy. It is a rebellion against nobility having all the money and power, not causing that. So as the left looks for a label, the basic issue is that the left needs to show that it is simply the American system, and the right-wing plutocracy is a war on the American system and the American people. And because we don't have that long list of other democracies who were ruined by plutocracy, it's harder to do that. One favor the Soviets did the world, sort of, is that by having the competition with the US, the US tried to paint them as the big bad monsters to win hearts and minds - and it put pressure on the US to 'do the right thing' to back that up. And we did good things we wouldn't otherwise have because of that. Once we 'won' and were the sole superpower, that need was gone, and we'd slid into a more authoritarian, plutocratic society since. People forget, even things like the civil rights movement - that seem so inevitable now, but actually didn't happen for a century after the civil war - were bolstered by the cold war. A leading concern about the dogs being used to attack black high school children in the south was that the photos went around the world, hurting our 'image' in the cold war. Probably our nation's most famous accomplishment, putting a man on the moon, was directly motivated by the cold war, after the Soviets put the first man in space. We spent up to 5% of the federal budget on that scientific project - compare to that to the spending on such science since the end of the cold war. Winning the cold war was supposed to 'free' the world - but instead of Russia going from communism to 'freedom', they and we are both sliding towards corrupt plutocracy. Even basic things like ending the oppressive amounts of military spending and the threat of nuclear weapons did not happen - we're spending even more on the military, and the threat of nuclear weapon use is increasing. We need better words, words for the American system the left supports, and words for the disaster of plutocracy the right is fighting for. Today's politics are the equivalent of our country in 1776 not even mentioning the British oppression, but instead the country only discussing the British trying to protect the country and the founding fathers being like the 'savage natives' wanting to end civilization and turn the country into natives living on the plains like the natives. Nonsense. We're about to vote on putting yet another vote on the Supreme Court giving control of it, and therefore control of the constitution, to a radical group of lilbertarians who have schemed for decades to get that power, and we aren't even discussing that - but only decades-old sexual behavior allegations. That's quite wrong. And it shows just how effective and insidious this right-wing campaign to normalize libertarianism has been.

Yes, that's why I called it underreported. But since it's not a big 'event' that happens on a certain day... and might get the outlet called 'liberal'... and other reasons...

Of course there are degrees. We're not close to North Korea. But we are at a pretty extreme degree of inequality and a few having nearly all of the power. It does help that they still need to win elections, sort of (Democrats got the most votes in 7 of the last 8 presidential elections), but somehow Republicans now control all the branches and don't serve the people. From ancient Rome to North Korea to the US now, there are always messages to the people how much the government cares about them and how good the government is to them, there are always pretenses. But the people really are lacking in power now here, in terms of actual power, not 'if they'd just vote for better people' power. There are underlying problems needing to be fixed for it to be more practical to take power from the Republicans (and corporate Democrats). I've said this before, but democracy is underappreciated as a historic, radical system we're lucky our country stumbled into. If we did not have democracy now, we wouldn't have a chance to get it. There's no way a 'people's movement' to put the 'people in charge' would overcome the resistance from the incredibly powerful forces that would oppose it. So instead, they use that power to effectively defeat democracy but keep the structure. But when's the last bill that shifted taxes *onto* the rich from everyone else?

It's important to note not all Republicans are alike on this. An underreported story I saw says Republicans have left the party in large numbers - 10-15 million was mentioned - which is why trump's approval is so high with the remaining Republicans and so low with everyone else. trump's supporters are down to a small core of cultists and corrupt people who simply are supporting him to get their corrupt agenda signed. If trump could organize 'brown shirts' around the country to beat any dissenters, things might be different, but he can't and his days are quite numbered, his support rightly in the gutter.

Doing that is kind of like getting rid of one drug cartel while leaving the drug laws and demand in place that created it and will keep creating others. The cause and effect is that we ARE a nation in which only a handful of powerful people matter, and that's why we have the situation we do - not the other way around. It's pretty simple. When there is a lot more equality, there is a culture of 'everyone matters'. Systems, media, elections, lots of things adopt democratic culture and everyone matters. When there is a lot less equality, life is cheaper for most. All they get is at best lip service, empty words and promises, if that. It's why Republicans literally work for and serve that small number of influential people and we currently don't actually have democracy - just a very corrupted electorate by letting money have so much power in our system. This is why reducing inequality is so important - not so much because 'it's fair for people to have more', but because high inequality corrupts the very culture and is a force that causes tyranny and plutocracy. A culture that makes people want a 'strongman' ruling them is caused by this.

Yes, it does. It keeps Republicans from paying Obama a dollar a year when they won mid-terms and paying trump a billion dollars. Those salaries seem like one of the few things not gamed - the issue though is that they don't care much about them when crooked, they get lobbyist positions later.

Renegade, you're wrong. I'll explain. I'm all for the things you are concerned about - fairness, don't abuse criminal justice for partisan reasons, asking how to handle this generally, a concern about letting any unsubstantiated claim be accepted. Here's why you're wrong. You need to take the following into account holistically. 1. She is telling the truth. Each case needs to be decided by its own merits. Not any accuser should be accepted at face value. When Clinton enemies were spending millions to find any accuser, skepticism was needed - and I don't say he was innocent despite that. When a right-wing talk show host expressed trauma over an Al Franken bit of humor, there was reason for skepticism. Look at this woman, this story. She is a very credible person, a researcher, right off the top. if she were making this up, she's doing a crappy job at it. She didn't need to name a right-wing scumbag and friend of Kavanaugh's as being a participant, when he's so likely to lie and deny it, if she were making it up. She's the one who wants the FBI to investigate - Kavanaugh, his friend, and Republicans don't. I won't say she has no reason to lie - IF she were a good American, she'd be appalled like most Americans are by this nomination, and in theory could make up a story to try to block it. But that makes no sense when you look at issue after issue. She tried hard to stay anonymous while 'doing her duty to the country' to let someone know. Her life is hugely disrupted, she is now nationally famous for the rest of her life, with the 1/3 of Americans who support trump a menace to her, getting death threats already. Her behavior matches what experts say is normal. On balance, she is not lying. Kavanaugh, on the other hand, has spent his life trying to get this and his whole community, in the legal system, the Federalist Society, Heritage, millions spent to advance his nomination, are all tied to his getting approved. He could hardly have more motive to lie - and he has lied repeatedly, under oath, for partisan and self interest. Person after person has come forward - family saying she would never lie about something like this, people saying they heard about it then, her therapist and husband saying she talked about it in 2012, on and on, all supporting her story - and inconsistent with the 'partisan' motive above. Use common sense and ask if you can tell who to believe. 2. You're letting concern about being biased make you biased FOR Kavanaugh Kavanaugh is a right-wing scumbag. From that privileged upbringing in the boy's school filled with drunken behavior he joked as 'what happens [at that school] stays [at that school[, to his whole life spent as a radical right-wing activist, utterly corrupt without principle, in so many of the Republicans' dirtiest activities. Ken Starr's hit squad - he was in the middle of it. The staged mob interference to prevent a recount in Florida in Bush v. Gore - he was there. When Democratic documents on Bush nominations for judges were stolen and sent to Republicans - he was the one they were sent to, and he used them, and then lied about it under oath. He supports an utterly corrupt plutocrat agenda. That's why he's nominated. These are great reason to oppose him. Your'e concern about not letting them bias you. So don't. You're making the mistake of not holding him accountable and doing the right thing, to go to an extreme in trying not to be biased - and that's even more harmful. Put the policy issues to the side BOTH in being against or for him and there's a great case to be against. 3. You're concerned about injustice. Look at his and Republicans' injustice. trump shouldn't even BE president nominating him - the election was stolen. Even if he were, the seat shouldn't even be open - Republicans STOLE it from Obama for a year, along with dozens of other lifetime judicial positions. trump has put more appeals court justices - 26 - into lifetime positions from The Federalist Society than Bush and Obama combined - 9 each. This is not a small issue - it's a decades-long plan to destroy the constitution by putting a groomed army into our court system to take it over. Kavanaugh is a complete willing soldier in that army - picked by trump because he's among the most extreme in saying a president should never be held to account under the law. Republicans have lied throughout this process - lying about the process, about FBI investigations that are standard - even the same Republicans who praised them previously - trump tweeting accusations that Dr. Ford is lying, the committee with false deadlines, refusals to let anyone else testify and much more. Where is the injustice? It's not on the side of Kavanaugh. If you can't oppose him, how do you expect the plutocrats not to overwhelm the country? You think they are 1/100 as concerned about YOU? I'm not asking you to do anything wrong because they do - I'm asking you not to do wrong by not understanding the issues. Everything the Republicans have done has been political warfare to win control of the Supreme Court to destroy the constitution, by putting up in this case a lying right-wing hack. From the false deadlines to the refusal to let people testify to hiring an outside counsel to question Dr. Ford so they don't look bad and saying they did it to de-politicize it. She is telling the truth. As I said above, the attack IMO is not reason to deny him the position. But his lying about it now is. And while the huge harm to our country doesn't clearly justify accepting her story if it were false, it sure works out well that it's not and does block such harm, and his lying NOW is something else that makes him unfit.

I have a house I've never been to in Phoenix; long story. I decided to sell it, the best offers were from as-is buyers. The first one I spoke to, I gave a bit of preference after he had to wait. Finally, I proceeded with the deal, after signing a contract with another buyer who didn't actually intended to buy the property, and misled about it - he would only buy it if he found another buyer for $9,000 more. So I asked this guy to confirm he was actually buying it and not just looking for another buyer, and he said he was. Immediately after signing I was forwarded his advertisement looking for another buyr for $9,000 more again. So he misled about that. I sent him a note asking him to confirm his previous statement he'd buy regardless - and it turns out he did find another buyer. So who knows what he would have done. So he makes $9,000. Not a problem - except that when I was checking on him in case he tried to cancel, I found he's the Republican running for a state house seat in Florida. His facebook page showed him saying a lot of the usual Republican garbage - how he supports trump, has tea party support, calling Democrats 'Marxists'. I wouldn't have sold to him if I'd known because we need our money not going to therm. Crap. I just put thousands of dollars in the hands of a Republican politicians. Ugh.

I did not say she is now 15, idiot. But, you're ignored as the uncivil idiot you are.

News flash! A century ago, the racist south were Democrats. Since JFK's/LBJ's civil rights bills, the racists in the south are Republicans. That last part is too complicated for Republicans.

15 year old girl is attacked in an attempted rape, and you say she WANTS the attack. You are scum. Read this post to your mother and ask her if you are scum, she'll agree you are.

Exactly. The fact that he denies it happened NOW means that he's lying NOW and that makes him unfit for any court, not the original incident. But some people are such cultists they'll excuse anything to try to 'win'. So they'll brainlessly fight for Kavanaugh without any concern for his history or lying now because their cult tells them to. That's what evil looks like. They have no clue how manipulated they are by big money interests all in order to get more plutocracy to get more money for the richest people.

His friend Mike Judge sounds like a right-wing scumbag who will lie to defend Kavanaugh.

Yes, that was the point I made, that the incident isn't disqualifying, but his lying now is.

That's like putting OJ Simpson on the Supreme Court so he can get 'revenge' on what the prosecutors did to him. THEY'RE the criminals, not the victims, and you are scum.